Incentives to support the housing market boosted the
number of people wanting to buy homes in October and helped to push prices to
an 11-year high. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' seasonally
adjusted house price balance hit +57, its highest level since June 2002 and up
from a revised +53 in September, as demand outstripped the number of properties
on the market. Simon Rubinsohn, RICS's
chief economist, said banks were willing to provide homebuyers with bigger
loans thanks to the latest phase of the Help to Buy programme under which the
government guarantees up to 15 percent of many mortgages. "In spite of
this, the amount of homes currently up for sale is still nowhere near enough to
keep up with demand and - in order for the market to function correctly - this
imbalance urgently needs to be addressed," he said. Read more on the
Reuters website.
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